


Lovely Dark and Deep

by ChaoticBabe



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen, Haruno Sakura-centric, strange occurrences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2021-02-13 02:35:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21486910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticBabe/pseuds/ChaoticBabe
Summary: The woods should be off limits to children.
Relationships: Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Haruno Sakura, Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura & Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 3
Kudos: 96





	Lovely Dark and Deep

They are twelve years old when they disappear for seven days.

Of the three of them, Sakura is the only one who makes it home. 

Playing in the forest is something the three of them have done since they can remember. If not playing make believe then hiding out from parents. It has always been safe.

No one ever told them any different. No one said, not to wander too deep.

It’s unlikely they would have listened anyways. Children never do.

Sasuke would have gone to prove he was brave, Naruto to show he was just as good. And Sakura, well she just wouldn’t have wanted to be left behind.

So it happens with little fan fare. A day like any other, when the three of them grow bored, deciding to go a little deep into the woods than they ever have before. What’s the harm they know the way back. Naruto dispels any doubt by reminding them he has a compass, they just have to walk north, eventually they’ll hit home.

No one sees any of them again for a week.

The Town grows frantic, it’s been sometime since any children went missing. Though the old stories of how they always disappear in threes floats around still, its little more than legend. The town searches, but finds no trace of any of them.

On the seventh day, when hope's at it’s lowest, they find her burrowed into the roots of a tree. Covered in blood, not all of it her own, wearing different clothes.

It’s Kakashi with his dogs who finds her. He is the only one who will never ask any questions.

Crouching low so jade eyes clash with a single gray one, he says hello. Talking in low soothing tones, asks if she would like to come out now, to go home to her parents.

She doesn't say a word, but she does take his hand.

It's a haze of hugs and frantic embraces for a while after that. Then the questions come.

_Where were you? _

_What happened to the others? _

When she finally finds the breath to speak, Sakura lies.

Says she can’t remember a thing, the doctors say it’s amnesia brought on by trauma.

She is old enough to know better than to tell the truth. That she remembers everything, and she was gone for far more than seven days. It wouldn't go over well.

So she doesn’t speak a word of how at first, it was all so wonderful. A dream come to life, one that quickly became a nightmare.

Never tells anyone how Sasuke became a monster in the maze when they tried to escape, turning into something half beast before her eyes. The maze had been filled with all sorts of creatures, some that even the fairytales hadn’t spoke of, yet all it took a was a bite from one snake.

Black flames crawled up his neck, venom taking it's effect. His screams are still ringing in her ears.

Sakura definitely never whispers how Naruto ran in head first after, with no plan and too much courage, ready to do whatever it took to save Sasuke. He almost came close.

But the others, the ones who _stole_ them, couldn’t have that. It wouldn’t look good to be one upped by a bunch of kids.

Naruto jumped through flames to get to his best friend. He went in a boy and came out the other side a fox.

And Sakura, well she got lucky. She was able to learn from their mistakes.

The boys guarded her in their new forms till they found a crack in the wall. Just a small crack in the glamour, big enough for a child to slip through. 

But only humans can get through.

Everything the magic changed, has to stay.

Sakura never says a lot of things.

The truth wouldn’t do her any good.

People believe they got lost, were stolen away, or had just run away. It's tragic, but at least one came back.

Sasuke's family moves away.

Naruto never had much to begin with.

Like with all tragedy's people move on, they forget.

Sakura never can.

Sometimes she thinks of how she only went in the woods so as not to get left behind. But here she is, the only one left.

Even drowning in grief she can see the irony of that.

Ever since getting back, she can see things that once were not there. The creatures hiding in the dark, moving among people with no one the wiser. Her parents become unnerved withe way she watches empty spaces. A distance grows between them, one she doesn't try to breach. They wouldn't understand.

The only one who does is the one eyed man.

Kakashi comes by to check in on her, noticing how her eyes dart from one space to another.

Informs her if she ever wants to talk, she's welcome on his land.

Hesitant at first to take up the offer, she eventually gives in to the feeling that he _knows_. So she goes, and he is the one that talks. Surrounded by a pile of dogs Kakashi tells her the story of three children who got lost in the woods years before, only one came back. He was missing an eye.

The hollowness of his gaze is reflected in her own. But at least she's not alone.

At fifteen she all but lives on Kakashi’s property.

It’s the only place she feels safe.

He has wards in place that he shows her how to make.

He ruffles her hair after telling him the ones she made for her house work, there's not a single living thing inside that isn't supposed to be. 

Still, she doesn't stop going to his land, it feels more like home than anywhere else. Her parents gone as often as they are never notice.

Years go by this way, he teaches her all he knows. She's got a mission, and needs all the knowledge she can get.

The story of three children lost in the woods has become little more than folk lore added in with all the other disappearances, but she lived it. She's proof that it was real, people think she's stranger for it. Disliking the reminder that they are not as safe as they like to think.

She has a hard time caring about what they think.

At nineteen Sakura is as ready as she'll ever be.

Walking to the edge of the words she stops to take breath. Ready herself for the fight head.

Turning to her side she thanks Kakashi for all that he's done. And reminds him to try and remember to feed himself, she wont be there to take care of him anymore.

Shaking his head he slowly he wraps his arms around her, it’s awkward for a moment, neither one of them are much for hugs. But Sakura quickly lets herself melt into him.

Hugging him back desperately.

It’s as close to a goodbye as either will ever get.

It’s almost enough to make her reconsider. Almost.

With a nod of the head, refusing to look back she follows a path she’d only tread once before, and walks assuredly into the heart of the woods.

It’s time to get her boys back.

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like no matter the universe those three would find trouble.


End file.
